Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: MacIntyre Sees Cardinal For What It Is - Power Plus
November 03, 2015 | Football, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER – There are certain aspects of Stanford's football program that Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre would like his Buffaloes to emulate but as for borrowing David Shaw's overall Cardinal blueprint, CU's third-year head coach will pass.
MacIntyre got a fairly up-close-and-personal look at Stanford in his prior job at San Jose State. He judged Shaw's program to be "excellent . . . but no it wasn't one I looked to model after."
In his three seasons at San Jose State, MacIntyre's teams lost twice to Stanford. But in his final season (2012), the No. 21 Cardinal was pushed to the limit in a 20-17 win.
MacIntyre called Stanford "unique" but said the success of the school's football program hasn't influenced him as much as the coaches he has worked for, specifically naming Duke's David Cutcliffe and former NFL coach Bill Parcells (Dallas, New York Jets).
"San Jose State was a great school, but it's not Stanford," MacIntyre said. "Stanford University is unique; every place you are (at) is unique and you kind of mold it to what fits you, you kind of model it to what you are and what's best for your school."
While the Cardinal prospered under former coach Jim Harbaugh, MacIntyre noted that Shaw "did a great job taking it over and keeping it running and going like it is."
And, yes, Stanford is up, running and going in the right direction – perhaps toward this season's national playoffs. The No. 9 Cardinal, which visits Folsom Field on Saturday (11 a.m., Pac-12 Networks), is on a seven-game winning streak after dropping its season-opener at Northwestern.
"Stanford is an excellent, excellent football team," MacIntyre said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. The Cardinal impresses him in a number of ways, but its physical presence on offense and defense might impress him the most.
"They are a powerful football team is a good way to explain them offensively and defensively," he said.
That's what MacIntyre wants the Buffs to become, as well as balancing the offense – and he sees signs of his team getting there. "We want to be physical on defense and athletic (and) we're making strides," he said, also noting that offensive balance and physical play on that side of the ball are occurring more and more.
"We're able to go toe-to-toe (with opponents) for a while," he said.
The Pac-12 is commonly viewed as a speed league, but how far the Buffs have progressed in their pursuit of physicality will get a litmus test this weekend.
"I guess we'll find out," MacIntyre said. "(The Cardinal is) very powerful; we'll have to stay on our blocks, our running backs will have to hit the hole and slice through some arm tackles, that type of thing, to be able to run the football.
"Hopefully we'll be able to sustain our blocks long enough in order to get our running backs going, and stay on our blocks long enough that we can throw the ball down the field . . . it's going to be a physical game, but that (Stanford) offensive line has stayed healthy all year long and that has really helped them stay physical and be able to keep running the football. Same with their defensive front, those guys have been able to stay healthy which I don't think that was the case for them as much last year."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
